Economics, Bachelor of Science

Economics is the study of how people and societies make choices to accomplish individual and social purposes. In this major, students learn about individual, national and global economic behavior, and then apply various theoretical insights and methods of analysis to the contemporary challenges involving social and economic justice, discrimination, immigration, markets, and crime, among other topics.

Learning outcomes.  Students will:

• Identify and describe economic issues including justice, the law, crime, the causes and effects of fraud, sustainability, and administration.
• Analyze economic information by separating it into its constituent parts, carefully examining them so as to identify causes, relationships and possible results.
• Demonstrate an understanding of alternative theoretical perspectives.
• Propose ethical and logically consistent remedies/policies for economic problems.
• Communicate effectively to a variety of audiences by means of oral presentations, written documents and quantitative graphs, charts and tables.

Credits required.

Prerequisites. ECO 101 or ECO 120 or ECO 125 are prerequisites for required courses in the Economics major. ECO 105  is also a prerequisite for higher-level required ECO courses. Depending on math placement, students may need to take MAT 105 and/or MAT 108 (or MAT 141) as prerequisites for the required statistics course, ECO 255. ECO 101 can fulfill the Flexible Core: Individual and Society and ECO 105 can fulfill the Flexible Core: U.S. Experience in its Diversity areas of the General Education program.

Note: Students considering graduate programs in economics should consider additional mathematics and statistics courses as free electives. Students are strongly advised to discuss graduate school options early in their progression through the major.

Economics Major CUNY Gateway Courses. ECO 120 Introduction to Macroeconomics, ECO 125 Introduction to Microeconomics, ECO 255 Statistics for Economists.

Coordinator. Professor Geert Dhondt, Department of Economics (646.557.4845, gdhondt@jjay.cuny.edu). 

Advising information. Economics Major Advising Resources. Sample Four-year Plan. Major Checklist. 

Honors Option. Honors in the BS in Economics is bestowed upon students who graduate with an overall GPA of 3.2 or higher, a GPA of 3.5 or higher for courses taken in fulfillment of the major, complete at least one additional Economics elective course at the 300-level, and complete a written capstone project in ECO 405 Seminar in Economics.  

Additional information. Students who enrolled for the first time at the College or changed to this major in September 2016 or thereafter must complete the major in the form presented here. Students who enrolled prior to that date may choose the form shown here or the earlier version of the major. A copy of the earlier version may be obtained in the 2015-2016 Undergraduate Bulletin.

Total Credit Hours: 36